Leh Trip

[Safarigent]

Thank you everyone for the tips.
Greatly appreciated!

[Moin.]

Arjun, hows the Thar holding up on the trip. Any major issues...6.5 big ones will depriciate every time you abuse the vehicle

Regards
Moin.

[Safarigent]

Hi moin,
Starting the trip on the 14th.
Looking forward to it!!

[Moin.]

Hi moin,
Starting the trip on the 14th.
Looking forward to it!!

Godspeed Arjun

Regards
Moin.

[Ravindrane]

Hello Friend I doubt u could reach Gargil in a day. The way is unpredictable. U may have to stay at DRASS the coldest inhabitable place in the world.

[Safarigent]

So this is what happened on the trip:
Me and my brother left Delhi on the 14th. 5 kms from home, the ciggarette lighter started emmitting sparks and smoke!
After stopping the thar, i took stock of the situation and removed the charger. Started up again. No smoke now. Drove to the mechanic and got it fixed. Continued on our way. We were routing via moradabad, bazpur, kaladhungi to khurpatal. The stretch between moradabad and bazpur, before and after a place called tanda is horrible. To cover 25-30 kms we took roughly 2.5 hours. It started raining heavily once we crossed moradabad. Refuelled at bazpur. Carried on to kaladhungi. Visited jim corbetts winter home, now a museum. Proceeded onwards to khurpatal. Stopped for the night. Dinner at a hotel called manu maharani in nainital. They say its a 4 star hotel. Decent food.
Next day we went to nainital, walked down the mall, went to the GB pant Hi Alt Zoo. Lots of pheasants. Saw sambhar, barking deer, ghoral etc etc. the views from there are magnificent.
Lunch at sakleys. Dont go for the thai/indian food. Their speciality is the banoffee pie and other such snacks. We had soup, momos, and toasted sandwiches along with hot chocolate. And the pie afterwards! Heaven!
Drove on towards ranikhet after lunch.
Reached ranikhet around 4 pm. Stayed at a lovely place called holm farm. Look it up.
Unpacked, showered and played a few games of pool. No bar license. So tipplers beware.
Dinner was a decent affair. Asked them to prepare kumaoni food for us the next night. Menu agreed upon was: kumaoni chicken, kumaoni raita, a local dal, and a local vegetable.
Slept soundly. Woke up late. We had originally planned to trek to the Chaubatia orchards and on to bhola dam carrying lunch. Lazed around instead. Read a few magazines, had breakfast. Drove out to the KRC woolens shop and KRC museum. Found tweed at the KRC woolens shop but not what i wanted. Due to lingering for longer than required, we found the museum closed. It was a sunday.
Pushed off for lumch to the west view hotel. Palak chicken and buttered rotis. Best food so far! And a great hotel.
Motored off to pathak bakery, nothing great there. Picked up some scones, plum cake and frooti for next days trip.
Went back. Rested. In the evening left to meet Lt. Col. Ram Singh(Retd) of the Kumaon regt. A bit of history about the gentleman. He had commanded the center in the late 50s and retired after that, spurning a promotion to stay in his beloved ranikhet. A keen shikari with trophies of a tiger and a leopard sprawling across his walls. 96 years of age and an institution in the Ranikhet area. Every commandant of the KRC still goes and pays him a visit before assuming command. We were a bit early as we wanted to fill up the tank and were adviced to reach the petrol pump a bit early as there was only one in town and there are long queues sometimes. As luck would have it, we drove in and out in a couple of minutes. Arriving at Col. Ram Singhs place 40 minutes early, we elected to drive around the area.
At 5 to 6, we reported at the house and were duly ushered in. Drinks were poured and before we knew it, we had to leave to keep the last and most interesting appointment of the day, a visit to the KRC mess. A repository of animal trophies shot and gifted by officers of the Kumaon regiment to the center. Saw and photographed weapons and trophies and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
Reached the holm farm by 8.30. Had dinner. Settled the bills, packed our bags and went off to sleep.
We left the next morning at 5.30 am. After travelling 35 kms on the rampur road, we found the road blocked by a fallen tree. Reversed and my brother found us a little hill road in the meantime. Took that to connect to the bhowali- nainital road. Crossed a small landslide and a big one. Numerous small pebbles falling on the road often. See bigger ones on the road. Difficult to navigate around them on such a narrow road. Realized why the road was so deserted!! Tell my brother to keep on looking up the hill. Suddenly my brother shouts at me to accelerate. I do so. In the rear view mirror i see a big rock fall on the road and bounce away down the mountain side. What the hell! Reached the end of the link road at the bottom of a valley and could see NH 87 maybe 200 yards away. The only problem was that there was a gushing torrent of water carrying debris between us and the highway. After spending a lot of time mulling over our options we decided to ford it. Successful. High fives! Carry on.
4 kms short of nainital, there was a huge landslide on the road. Boulders the size of maruti 800s falling down the hill side. Reversed and tracked for the bhowali- haldwani road. After a while on that road. Reached another landslide. Big. A canter was stuck on the debris. And presently a bus also got stuck. I offered to help clear the vehicles using a tow cable. Tried. Jeep dancing on the road. No good. Tried everything possible. Eventually deflated tyres. And saying a short prayer crossed the damn thing. Stuck in a traffic jam on the opposite side. Cleared that. Had the scones, cake and frooti. Reached kaladhungi finally at 2.30 pm. We still had to go to Ramnagar-kashipur-afzalgarh-nagina-najibabad-kotdwar-lansdowne. Got a call from a friend that things were like this all over the state. 60000 people stuck on the roads, scores of trees blocking highways, landslides on every road at multiple locations, freezing rain, half a dozen bridges washed away. Decided that the trip was not happening. Turned towards delhi and reached home,finally at 10.30 pm.
Keep in mind that it had been raining constantly right from the moment we woke up on 15th till we left rudrapur day before yesterday. Had been wet since morning. and we still had a long long way to go.
Photos will be up in a while.
Cheers.

P.S. moral of the story: 1. dont ever trust the indian met deptt. The monsoons arrived a fortnight earlier than predicted.
2. Man proposes and god disposes.

[prashantsingh]

Crossed a small landslide and a big one. Numerous small pebbles falling on the road often. Suddenly my brother shouts at me to accelerate. I do so. In the rear view mirror i see a big rock fall on the road and bounce away down the mountain side....................... there was a gushing torrent of water carrying debris between us and the highway. After spending a lot of time mulling over our options we decided to ford it. Successful. High fives! Carry on..

That was a close shave.Last year a friend of mine was almost washed away in his car when a flash flood came.
He could actually see a wave of water coming from the side. Like a wave you hit head on while rafting through a rapid.His Maruti Esteem was floating like a boat.
It took great courage and presence of mind by a group of local boys standing by the roadside to pull him out. The car was retreived after a week. It was full of mud and slush.

[prashantsingh]

waiting for the snaps

[Vikram]

An adventure for sure, though not the one you planned for or cared for. Glad you got back safely. Please tell us more about this tweed you wrote about.

Look forward to the photographs and also your opinions about the performance of the Thar. Thank you.



Best-
Vikram

[Risala]

Arjun
Then preferred route to Khurpatal-Nainital these days is Moradabad-Rampur-Suar-Bazpur...then onto Kaladungi-K'tal and N'tal.....this to avoid the M'bad -Tanda stretch.
Did you spend the night at K'tal....what was the weather like....am likely their next wk.

[Safarigent]

Thank you both for your wishes.
I am trying to salvage whats left of my holidays and will be back in delhi on monday. Will post the pictures then.
The thar is a very capable vehicle. I only have HT tyres on it but still!! I have only one major complaint and that is that the front seats are uncomfortable like hell. The area between my shoulder blades starts hurting after some time. Secondly, there is no mention of an RPM redline in the manual nor is there any such indication on the rev counter. When i was trying to tow the canter, i had no idea where to stop the revs at.
The KRC supports its war widows/ex servicemen etc by running a workshop where they make tweed. All the usual patterns are made, herringbone, houndstooth etc. keep in mind, you wont get donegal/harris tweed like quality. But you are doing a good deed. I wanted to pick up some herringbone for my desk but didnt find the right shade. They have interesting names like almora tweed, kumaon tweed etc.
Will be returning there soon. Sometime in july. Any members interested can msg me. Will get the stuff.
Cheers

[Safarigent]

The weather is nice. Its been raining for the longest time. Please confirm from someone that the roads are open
Before you go. Also there has been flooding in the rampur/ bazpur and surrounding areas. Read it in the paper today.
I have a feeling that khurpatal lake is going to disappear in a decade or so.

[kanwar76]

I have very fond memories of Lansdowne from my biking days. Its been almost 10 years since I've been there. Hopefully soon..

[harshit89]

Hi all,
Planning a trip to Leh with the following itinerary:
14 june: start delhi, night stay in pathankot.
15: srinagar.
16: kargil.
17: leh.
18: leh. Apply for permits and sight see.
19. Hundar.
20: pangong tso
21. Leh.
22. Sarchu.
23. Manali.
24. Kasauli.
25. Delhi.

It will be only Me and my brother in my thar.
Provisions:
1. 2 jerry cans for diesel.
2. 2l coolant.
3. 1l Engine oil.
4. Spare fuses.
5. Spare headlamps.
6. Air pump.
7. Tow rope.
8. First aid box.
9. Tool box.
10. Tyre pressure gauge.
11. 50l of mineral water, to be replenished at every staging point until reaching kasauli.
12. Emergency rations consisting of chocolate bars, dry fruits and gur.
13. Rubbish bags of polythene to collect our trash.
14. Two -17'C sleeping bags.
15. Two man tent.
16. Axe.
17. 2 knives.
18. Map set.
19. Woolen clothes.


This is what comes to mind as of now.
Anything else that you guys can think of?
Thanks,
A

I just want to add a most important tool which is a waterproof LED light and a folding knife would be better instead of the fixed blade knife.